


Holiday Cheer

by What_a_mess (Myself)



Category: Longmire (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Cuddles, Established Relationship, F/M, OCs - Freeform, Shared Bed, Spiked eggnog, Unapologetic schmoop fluff, but only for like a second I swear, but they’ve only been dating for a bit, holiday party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28232040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myself/pseuds/What_a_mess
Summary: A cozy end to a holiday party with perhaps a bit too much holiday cheer
Relationships: Cady Longmire/Jacob Nighthorse
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14
Collections: Longmire Holiday Exchange





	Holiday Cheer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [call_for_help](https://archiveofourown.org/users/call_for_help/gifts).



> This is off of callforhelp’s prompt as follows: _Jacob hosts a holiday party (who would he even invite?). Anyway... Cady’s there, obviously, and throughout the evening, just about every time he turns around, she’s somewhere close by. Later in the party, he’s sitting on the couch chatting with someone and suddenly she’s there too, beside him. At some point his conversation ends and she scoots even closer, rests her head on his shoulder sleepily, maybe threads their arms together. “You’re being very cuddly.” “You’re warm.” “You’re drunk.” Could be combined w/ “how many people spiked the eggnog?”_ I just continued on from that point, rather than writing about the party, oops? Sort of cheating, but I threw in the “bed sharing” prompt also, so oh well.

“You’re being very cuddly,” Jacob said, not minding at all. He looked down at the top of her head where she was curled up against his side. “You’re warm,” she informed him contentedly. “ _You’re_ drunk,” he retorted fondly. “I only had a few cups of eggnog,” Cady protested into his shoulder and he chuckled. “Having kept an eye on the bowl this evening, I think it could be used as jet fuel at this point.” She lifted her head to frown over at the drink table. “Wait, how many people have spiked the eggnog?” “I stopped counting after the first five,” he said dryly. 

“Really? Oh noooooo,” she wailed softly before pausing, having come to a Very Important Realization through the haze of dramatically more rum than she had planned on. “I probably shouldn’t drive home.” Jacob snorted lightly. “No, you probably shouldn’t.” She turned to face him, still hugging his arm. The sweater she was wearing wasn’t particularly low cut, but how she was sitting now pressed her chest against him rather distractingly. “So I’m staying here,” she agreed with a languid smile and half-lidded blink up at him. Hell. 

“The guest room has clean sheets,” he told her stoically. ...Possibly slightly less than stoically. Her eyes widened in dismay, everything somewhat exaggerated by the booze, but that was exactly the problem. “You’re drunk,” he reminded her gently, “and nothing is going to happen while you’re drunk.” She pouted, and whispered, “But I wanna cuddle.” He raised disbelieving eyebrows at her and pointedly moved her hand from where it was creeping towards his inseam. She buried her fit of giggles in his shoulder and mumbled, “Well, that too, but I _do_ actually want to cuddle. You’re warm. And you smell good.” 

She raised her head to tuck her nose behind his ear and he jolted slightly at how cold it was. It was getting late and he knew that most of the guests had already left, but he still had to check on anyone who might still be here. He shifted on the sofa so that she pulled back, pouting again. “I would hate to have us do anything that either of us would regret in the morning. So the only thing that’s happening tonight is _sleep_. And getting you to drink some water,” he said, reaching out to cup the side of her cheek. She sighed at that, eyes slipping closed and her smile turned sappy.

“You _like_ me,” she whispered, a touch of drunken awe in the tone. He leaned in and kissed the corner of her eye, his beard tickling her cheek, and his own smile was probably rather sappy as he whispered back, “I really do.” She turned her face slightly to press a kiss to his jaw. “That’s good. I really, really like you, too,” she whispered as if she were revealing a terribly guarded secret. His smile stretched wide against her cheek. They’d been seeing each other for a few months at that point, but hearing her say that still had the thrill of novelty and the slight disbelieving rush of requited feelings.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you that water,” he cajoled, running a hand down her back to encourage her to shift off the sofa. “But you’re so warm,” she protested, nuzzling her nose back behind his ear. The close contact with him _had_ apparently warmed her enough that her nose was no longer an icicle. He was standing firm that nothing hot and heavy would be happening that night, but maybe… “If you can behave yourself,” he started, pulling back to level a serious look at her, “I suppose we may as well skip having to do extra laundry.”

It took a moment for her to follow that logic to realize what he meant but when she did, she looked genuinely surprised before it shifted into glowing happiness. “I promise,” she said, pressing a carefully chaste kiss to his cheek, avoiding the temptation to catch the corner of his mouth with her own. She’d been ready to sleep in the guest room because he was right; her head was still swimming from the potent eggnog and wouldn’t be terribly kind to her the next morning without the worry of second guessing anything they did tonight. She could absolutely be good for _cuddles_ , as enticing as Jacob was.

She let him drag her to her feet with only minimal reluctance before wrapping her arms around him in a full body hug. She hummed in happiness when his arms came up around her to return the embrace and they stood there for a moment before he pulled back. He brushed her hair back from her face, caressing her cheek with his knuckles with the same movement and told her, “Get that water and I’ll make sure everyone has headed home safe, eh?” She nodded sheepishly, suddenly remembering that she’d all but ambushed him on the couch towards the end of his party, but there might be stragglers and he was still the host.

When Cady went into the kitchen to get a glass of water the mother and daughter who had helped by catering most of the food had their coats on and were having a quiet but intense discussion by the counter with the aluminum trays of leftovers. They broke off when she ambled in and on a hunch she told them, “Please take any of the leftovers that you’d like. Everything was wonderful, but you’ve seen how full the fridge already is.” The daughter sent her a blinding smile before turning to her mother with a smug air. Her mother smiled more sedately and thanked Cady before nudging her daughter and giving her directions in Cheyenne.

Cady went to the cabinet for a clean glass as the women shuffled the leftovers into a formation that was something they could carry. She had a brief moment of worry that she might be overstepping since she hadn’t been in a hostess role that evening but the refrigerator really was packed. Over the past few months she had also come to find that Jacob wasn’t much of one for leftovers, preferring to cook for them when he could. That he was something of a foodie had been a surprise, but a delicious one. 

The pair managed the kitchen door despite their full hands before Cady could go open it for them and the teenager called, “Merry Christmas!” cheerfully over her shoulder just before she shut the door with her hip. Cady waved at her through the window in the door, returning her bright smile before the teen tromped after her mother towards their van. Jacob came into the kitchen and glanced around. “Did Sylvia and Grace go?” Cady finished her water before answering, “They just left. I told them to take the leftovers.”

“Good. Everyone else has headed home. Bed?” She toasted him with her empty glass, agreeing, “Bed. For _cuddles_ ,” and detouring to fill her glass back up at the tap before following him down the hall to his bedroom. Future her would be grateful in the morning. Having spent the night several times before, she had some skimpy shorts stashed in one of his drawers but forwent them to steal a pair of Jacob’s fleece sleep pants to pair with a T-shirt. Despite being nearly the same height as Jacob, more of her height was in her legs so the pajama pants ended just at her ankles which made her smile secretly around her toothbrush.

Finishing her evening routine before him, Cady flopped loose limbed on her side of the bed. His mattress was to die for and she yawned hugely. She didn’t really mean to close her eyes but she jerked out of a light doze when the bed shifted. She blinked sleepy eyes open slowly at Jacob’s chuckle, smiling automatically at the wonderful sound. “Works better when you’re _under_ the covers,” he teased, tugging them down as she shifted to let him work them out from underneath her. Tucking her feet under the covers she rolled over to him immediately as he flipped the blankets up over both of them. 

She nestled into his side, hugging one arm across his chest and rubbing her cheek on his cotton clad collarbone before resting her head in the dip where his shoulder met his chest. “Cady,” he chided warningly when she hooked a leg over one of his. “Just getting comfy, not handsy,” she assured him drowsily. Pleased with how she had arranged herself half on top of him, she stretched grandly for a moment before going limp in warm contentment. She tended to run a bit cold and he really was marvelously warm. Her own personal bed warmer. She hummed a quiet laugh sleepily at the thought on the receding edge of wakefulness.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” she mumbled into the collar of his soft sleep shirt, already drifting to sleep. “Always,” he said, whispering it into her hair as her breath evened out, already lost to the waking world. Closing his own eyes, he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, promising her sleeping form, “Long as you’ll let me,” before joining her in sleep.


End file.
